Bolivians hope for renewed faith

DAVID AGREN │ Catholic News Service

7/21/15

Pope Francis greets a man in the Palmasola prison in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, July 10.

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia - Ernesto Rossell was born Catholic, went
to Catholic schools and was married in the Catholic Church,
though he fell away from his faith. But he said seeing the
election of Pope Francis, witnessing the pope in person and
working on the organization of the papal trip has helped
bring him back to his Catholic roots.

"We hadn't seen a leader that motivated us to return to our
faith," said Rossell, a father of two daughters and official
in Bolivia's tourism ministry. "It's easy to identify with
him, perhaps because he's from Latin America. ... But he's
close to the people and very believable."

"He makes us feel part of the church," says Alejandra Loyola,
Rossell's wife and also a government employee. "It gave me
goose bumps when the pope arrived."

Such sentiments were expressed in Santa Cruz after Pope
Francis finished a less-than-48-hour visit that attracted
large crowds. The visit included a historic apology to
indigenous peoples for the actions of the church in the
"so-called conquest" of the Americas.

Church officials expect the visit to renew the faith of a
largely Catholic population and bring about better relations
with the Bolivian government after a decade of difficulties.

"People aren't thinking about politics," said Auxiliary
Bishop Braulio Sáez Garcia of Santa Cruz, who arrived
in Bolivia more than 40 years ago as a Discalced Carmelite
missionary. "The beautiful part of this visit is that the
pope came once again to comfort the Bolivian people, to
encourage them and strengthen the faith that they have."

During the visit, politics was never far from the discourse
of President Evo Morales, who, in his welcoming remarks,
brought up an ongoing dispute with Chile over landlocked
Bolivia having access to the sea. Pope Francis responded with
impromptu remarks in the La Paz cathedral, encouraging
"dialogue" and, "building bridges not building walls."

The papal plane had barely taken off July 10 when Bolivian
Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca told media at the Santa
Cruz airport, "We're not the ones that want to cut off
dialogue."

Morales also raised eyebrows by presenting Pope Francis with
a hammer and sickle crucifix, a replica of one made by slain
Jesuit Father Luís Espinal, whom the pope honored upon
arriving in Bolivia.

Bishop Sáez said many in the church would have
preferred politics stay on the sidelines and the
controversial cross stay out of sight. He said the Morales'
presentation of the Espinal-inspired cross was a surprise and
not viewed well.

"We know that Christ's cross had another dimension, which is
the expression of a God who died on the cross, but not with
the hammer, only love," the bishop said, "and not with the
sickle, rather with willingness to welcome all at the cross
and die for all humanity."

The pope asked about church-state relations in a private
meeting with bishops prior to leaving, along with issues such
as a crisis in vocations in Bolivia and how priests were
getting along in a country with a very poor church, Bishop
Sáez said.

The pope celebrated Mass July 9 in Santa Cruz and visited the
Palmasola prison where he called for solidarity with an
oft-neglected part of the population.

Even though politics stole some of the headlines, the subject
was far from the minds of most Bolivians, who embraced the
first Latin American pope as one of their own.

"Anything with an image of the pope on it sells well," said
Ronaldo Moreira, an employee in a shop selling religious
items. "Hopefully we will all get along better after this
visit."